FAQ

Is this (product) good for (condition)?

In order for us to legally make any claims on anything a product might treat, the product would be classified as a drug under the FDA and would have to be made in a laboratory and undergo rigorous testing. Something that we and other small businesses are unable to do.

Even innocuous sounding terminology such as "moisturizing" (in regards to soap - for lotions it's allowed), "anti-aging", "clarifying" or "healing" is prohibited. Therefore, I cannot make any claims that the product does anything other than it cleans (soap) or moisturizes (lotions). I encourage you to research on your own the ingredients that may help (or worsen) your condition and look for (or avoid) those ingredients and make an informed decision on the products that you purchase. This advice goes for any skincare products, not just the ones that we make.

Please also do not reach out to us directly and ask if it will help with any condition, as we cannot make any claims in private either. We can answer questions about the ingredients that we use in regards to allergens. For example, if you tell us that you have an nut allergy, we would be able to let you know which products contain coconut oil, almond oil, etc., and that you should avoid them. Similarly, if you have done research and are looking for products that contain a particular ingredient, we can point you in the direction of a product that contains it, if we carry one. 

 

Do you accept wholesale/custom/private label orders?

At this time, we do not. AlternAroma Soaps is a one-woman show (with occasional assistance from my husband and/or stepchildren) at this point in time, and I have a full time job in addition to my soap business and I do not have the time nor the capacity to accept wholesale or special orders. This may be something that changes in the future, but for now, the policy is that we don't.

Additionally, we reserve the right to limit order quantities.

 

What is the difference between your Basic B Soaps and your Artisan Soaps? Aren't all of your soaps handcrafted?

Sort of. Our Basic B Soaps are made with what is called melt and pour soap. It's exactly as it sounds - it's a pre-made soap base that is melted down, and then we add fragrance, color, and other additives to it, depending on the individual batch. Artisan Soaps are made entirely from scratch, or nearly entirely from scratch, using a method called cold process soapmaking, in which oils, fats and other ingredients are combined with lye and saponified - which means they are turned into soap.

Occasionally, we'll make soaps with a method called hot process, but the ingredients don't change. Hot process just makes a more rustic looking bar that takes less time to cure, while cold process can be fussed with a little more, making swirls and designs and such. Other than that, cold process and hot process soaps are virtually identical. 

We say that our cold and hot process soaps are entirely from scratch, or nearly entirely from scratch. Nearly entirely from scratch means that sometimes we'll make embeds and other design elements from melt and pour soap and incorporate it into the cold process or hot process soap. However, the majority of the bar is made from scratch.

 

Wait, did you say lye? Isn't that dangerous?

It's only dangerous for us! :) We have to be very careful in handling the lye when making soap, but when the chemical process known as saponification happens, the oils are no longer oils and the lye is no longer lye, and it's just soap. Every bar of true soap ever made was made with lye, and it's totally safe to use. You may not know this, but lye is also used in several other ways that you encounter every day and it's totally safe. It's used to make pretzels and bagels, hominy, lutefisk, and many other foods. Much like in soapmaking, lye is used to induce a chemical reaction in the food and the food is totally safe to eat in the end.

 

How long is my soap good for?

Soap can remain safe and effective for a very long time if stored properly, however we recommend that you use it within a year of purchase. Please discontinue use if it starts to smell rancid or develop any spots that resemble mold. If kept in a cool, dry place, soaps can last for years and years, though the fragrance and color might fade in that time.

 

Do you ship to (place)? How long will it take for my order to get to me?

Click here for our shipping policy.

 

Are your soaps all natural? Vegan? Free of chemicals?

Let's start with chemicals. Everything is a chemical. Soap is made via a chemical reaction. The air you breathe is a chemical. So no, our soaps are not free of chemicals. They are free of harmful chemicals such as phthalates and parabens. We also occasionally offer soaps fragranced with essential oils instead of fragrance oils, if that's what you prefer.

Our soaps are colored with micas, pigments, oxides and FD&C approved colors. We also sometimes glam them up with cellulose-based biodegradable glitter. Since we use these fragrance oils and colorants, we would not classify our soaps as all natural. However, every ingredient used in our soaps is skin safe and used within safe IFRA limits.

Many of our soaps are vegan. Take a look at the ingredients in the product listing to see if it is vegan and check for the vegan tag. Some of our soaps contain things like goat's milk, lard, tallow, honey and beeswax and are therefore not vegan and will not have the vegan tag. All equipment is thoroughly clean and sanitized between batches, therefore you can be assured that no animal-based ingredients make it into our vegan soaps. However, our oils and other ingredients are stored near each other, so we cannot guarantee that no cross-contamination occurs if you have allergies to nut oils, animal proteins, or any of the other ingredients we use.

 

My soap is getting dark in color. Should I be concerned?

Generally, no. That is often to be expected. Fragrance oils that contain natural vanillin, orchid or other specific ingredients will often darken the soap, even to a very dark brown if the vanillin concentration is high. We will often use ingredients to slow or stop the darkening, but those don't always work. Sometimes the color looks great when it's poured into the mold and then completely changes. We also try to embrace it by enhancing the darkening with shades of brown, grey and black, but again, the result isn't always the same as the vision. 

Due to the saponification process, many soaps will often develop rings or stripes or white frosty spots. We try to get ahead of those as well. The soap may not be the prettiest at times, but they will smell and cleanse amazingly.

That said, if the soap starts to smell rancid or "off" please discontinue use immediately. If the soap suddenly changes color, or you aren't sure if the color you're seeing is to be expected, please send us a photo and we will let you know if it is safe to use. 

Most of the discoloration that vanilla and other fragrance components cause will have occurred before the soap is sold to you and even before it is photographed to be put on the online store, so it should look similar to the photo when you receive it, and you often won't even know that the soap wasn't always that color!

 

I see that you use palm oil in some of your soaps. Isn't the palm oil industry responsible for deforestation leading to the destruction of orangutan habitats? 

Palm oil has a tarnished and complicated history. Yes, the palm oil industry wiped out large swaths of forests and contributed to environmental problems and the destruction of wildlife. However, in the last few decades, a global organization called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) have implemented standards for the production of sustainable and responsibly sourced palm oil. We only source our palm oil from suppliers that carry RSPO certified palm oil products, and we purchase only those certified products to use in our soap. We originally weren't going to use palm oil in our soaps, but after finding out that these RSPO certified sources of palm oil exist, and knowing the great qualities that palm oil brings to a bar of soap, the decision was made to use responsibly sourced palm oil products in many of our soap recipes.

 

What about your packaging? Is it environmentally friendly?

Yes! We try to use as little plastic as possible in our packaging. We do often use padded mailers, but we try to use cardboard shipping containers whenever possible if it doesn't increase the shipping price. There are sticker labels on some of our wraps, and we use tape to seal things, but our shrink wrap and "plastic" bags are made from a biodegradable film. We use environmentally friendly shipping filler, such as corn-starch based packing peanuts and recyclable paper and paper shred. Much of the shipping filler we use comes from packages we have previously received with our orders of supplies and ingredients. If it's clean, it gets re-used, and we encourage you to do the same!

 

Will you be restocking (product)?

The most definitive answer is "maybe". If a product is popular, and we still have or can still obtain the ingredients to make it, then yes, it will be restocked. However, we have no control over whether suppliers discontinue ingredients that we use, especially fragrance oils. The other base ingredients are easily substituted, but fragrance oils aren't always so easily substituted because suppliers have unique house blends that they may occasionally discontinue. Seasonal scents may also go away in their off seasons, and the supplier may not choose to restock it the following year. My advice is that if you find something you like and it's still in stock, go ahead and buy a backup. By all means, you can always also contact us to see if we can or will be restocking something soon. Some fragrances we make in a limited run at first, and we rely on feedback to let us know if we should make it again.

 

This has the same name and scent as a candle/wax melt I once bought several years ago. Coincidence?

Probably not. AlternAroma Soaps is born from the ashes of Rock Angel Scents. We were begged to bring back some old favorites from the Rock Angel days, so those beloved scents are coming back in soap and body products. We're keeping the same names because...why not? The theming of this business is still rock n' roll and pop culture like Rock Angel Scents was, so reusing some of those fragrance names is a no-brainer.

 

I ordered (product) awhile back and I just ordered it again and it doesn't look the same. Is there something wrong with it?

Likely not. Handmade products will look different from batch to batch as a result of it being a handcrafted product. Our recipes stay pretty consistent from batch to batch, though if something wasn't quite right the first time, tweaks might be made to improve it. For example, if a soap had 50% olive oil, 25% coconut oil and 25% castor oil on one one batch and we got feedback that it was a little too drying on the skin, then maybe we increase the olive oil to 55%, reduce the coconut oil to 20% and keep the castor oil at 25% in the next batch. The coconut oil would go lower on the ingredient list the next time, but otherwise the composition wouldn't change much (this is a completely hypothetical recipe, BTW. I used easy, round percentages to illustrate a type of change).

One thing that might frequently change from batch to batch is the color of the soap. Color in soap is really finicky and if the batter stays hot for too long or not long enough, then it can totally change the color of the soap even though the soap itself behaves exactly the same. Also, we don't put too much effort into measuring micas and other colorants. Our philosophy is just keep playing with it until it's close to the desired color. And we might decide to do a different fun color or pattern for a different season. So, your soap could smell the same and contain the same ingredients as before, but it might look different this time. We suggest that if you want several fairly uniform looking bars of a particular soap, that you order them all at once, as they will most likely be from the same batch.

 

I have a question that isn't addressed here.

Please feel free to contact us at alternaromasoaps@gmail.com. We try to respond to every inquiry within 24 to 48 hours.